Reporter ejected for attire at trial

A reporter was ordered out of court in New Zealand after appearing at a murder trial wearing gold sparkly pants.

Laura McQuillan, a journalist for NZ Newswire covering the Scott Guy murder trial, was asked on Wednesday by a registrar at Wellington High Court in New Zealand to leave before the lunch break.

McQuillan, 25, defended her choice of attire on Twitter, saying “I’m sitting under a table! No one even sees my legs!”

The topic of whether the sequined “disco” pants were appropriate caused an online storm within hours of the incident.

Celia Crosbie, a journalist for Mountain Scene, Queenstown, wrote on her Twitter account “Who wears disco pants to court? I’m sure Judge Phillips would boot us out too if Queenstown media tried!”

Others were more sympathetic.

Kiwiblog’s David Farrar replied in McQuillan’s defense.

“I’ve been on a media bench in jeans at court. Would a guy have been kicked off for his choice of leg wear?”

There is no official dress code for media or spectators, but the Ministry of Justice website suggests as a guideline that women wear a dress or a blouse and skirt, or a blouse and long pants.

At the trial that took place Wednesday, Scott Guy’s brother-in-law Ewen Macdonald, 32, pleaded not guilty to shooting and killing Guy in the early morning of July 8, 2010.

The trial continues.